Matmos
Ultimate Care II

I love Thrill Jockey Records in Chicago, Illinois. No other record label in the world, in my opinion, is truly on top of what's happening right now in the world, especially in the United States and the West. This is something you can obviously appreciate by listening to their records: in a varied range of genres and with a roster of musicians equipped with great inventiveness and among the most well-known names in the American music scene, their proposals are always brilliant. There's always a big concept, some idea, in every single record, and even though not all of them will be noteworthy over time, and even if not every single one might end up in your year-end list, each of these records deserves to be listened to, there's always something to learn, and not just in the strictly musical aspect.

Naturally, when we talk about Matmos, i.e., the project of M.C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel, we are talking about one of the most important names in the experimental electronic music scene. After all, they have been around for over twenty years and have released a lot of records and had more than a few important collaborations.

Speaking of experimentation, needless to say, it is not lacking in their latest work, titled 'Ultimate Care II,' released on February 19th on Thrill Jockey. Once again, the duo takes part in a collaboration, but this time things are different, because their partner in this musical adventure is very special: it's a washing machine! Yes, you read that right. Recorded in their home studio in Baltimore, the album is entirely built on sounds generated by a Whirlpoo Ultimate Care II washing machine.

The content of this futuristic experiment is a long session of about forty minutes in which, assisted by other musicians and friends including Dan Deacon, Max Eilbacher, and Sam Haberman of the Horse Lords, Jason Willett of Half Japanese, and Duncan Moore (Needle Gun, the duo literally plays the washing machine as if it were a drum and at the same time a kind of synthesizer. Then, after the recording phase, a studio work followed in which they worked to give a complete form to the recorded material.

If not unforgettable, the result is at least interesting. Over what we could define as the tapestry of a 'guerrilla' dub rhythm, the duo showcases all their abilities in navigating the different genres of electric and experimental music, from industrial, to house, kraut-rock, drone music, and new age. But we're not talking about something exclusively provocative like, for example, Lou Reed's 'Metal Machine Music'. The duo's intention is not just to provoke or be original. Also because, let's face it, they have always been original in a way.

The true purpose of this album, I would say, is to interact in a concrete, real manner with what surrounds us. The world of music is full of musicians who have related to the world of nature and have recorded and mixed, using the sound of the sea and the wind (for example), but nobody, in fact, or very few, have truly dedicated themselves to what's actually a significant part of the world around us. The modern world, our society, we spend most of our days at home or at work, and in any case, we are always enclosed between the usual four walls. And during all this time, we use, interact with a lot of things that we don't exactly know how they work, and especially in many cases, we don't even know how they are made. I'm talking about computers, smartphones, televisions, and going beyond, satellites, airplanes, factories. And appliances and washing machines too. What do you know about your washing machine? Yes, you probably know how to use it, how to start a 'program' (even I can do it), but that's it. And yet. And yet there is a little world contained within it, made of components, mechanics, liquids, and obviously sound. Here it is.